[4] The aim of the StAGN's activities is to standardize the official and private use of geographic names in the German-speaking area by issuing relevant recommendations and guidelines.
The committee is composed of representatives from various institutions in the Federal Republic of Germany and other countries where the German language has official status, including: In 1952, a working group on naming and name writing was established within the German Society for Cartography (DGfK) at the Institute for Regional Studies in Bad Godesberg.
After the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names (UNGEGN) was formed in 1959, the Permanent Committee for the Spelling of Geographic Names was established by the German Federal Ministry of the Interior, with its headquarters at the Institute for Regional Studies.
A year later, the StAGN organized the 8th United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographic Names in Berlin.
In 2014, the first joint meeting between the Commissions on Geographic Names of Poland and the StAGN was held in Town Hall of Görlitz.